I forgot to say something about the major importance of actually showing OS X and Mac hardware.
I think a lot of people on this board forget that we are here because we are interested in Macs, and almost certainly, technology in general. But the vast majority of people just aren't interested (and even some who are interested are unbelievably clueless*) they just use technology because they have to.
Most people couldn't tell you the difference between an application and an operating system. Most people couldn't tell you that Macs run OS X. I imagine that most people's reaction to seeing a Mac would be "Hey! That's not Windows!". You have to show people OS X so that they'll be intrigued enough to even visit an Apple store in the first place. Apple need to take advantage of Vista's lateness and get OS X in everyone's face as much as possible, so when people see Vista, they'll think "hmmm, that's a bit like OS X, but not as nice".
* The BBC have a weekly radio show/podcast called "digital planet". About three weeks ago, it had a short segment about operating systems, and they had some pundit in to name her 3 favourite OSes (Symbian, Windows Mobile and Linux, in case you were wondering), and when the presenter introduced the segment he said, and I kid you not: "I wasn't even aware there was more than one OS".
The ads are brilliant, they are not insulting.. Everyone of my pc friends chuckled when I sent it to them. Not a single one was offended. They are targeting average consumers, not business folks.. They are poking fun in a good natured way and showing the real world differences between Macs and Pcs while breaking common stereotypes at the same time..
Everyone who thinks there oughta be a "process type" commercial is way off. The average Joe doesn't care and wouldn't even know what they were looking at if you tried to sell iLife apps in a 30 second spot. Apple is selling a lifestyle, they are showing how "human" the Mac experience is.
The Ads are gone onto the apple.com main page, and some eye-catching iPod image ads are on the store page, I think we're seeing a more aggresive apple on the rise! They are starting to build a momentum lately.
As far as people wondering about how these ads play to business buyers, or Linux users-- not the market they're targeting.
Seems pretty clear to me that these ads are all about lifestyle branding. The visual is overtly intended to send the message "The PC is your parent's computer".
Doesn't matter if that message is "insulting" or "arrogant", it's advertising. If Chevy attempts to imply that their trucks are more rugged and macho than Fords nobody gets their back up. It's advertising. That's what advertising does: links your product in the viewers mind with certain desirable attributes. In this case, "cool" and "youthful" (as opposed to "stodgy" and "middle aged").
The day advertising forswears "cooler than thou" and "younger than thou" as a strategy the earth will fall into the sun.
And yeah, I think these ads would have the most appeal for teens and young adults. Guess what? Teens have enormous influence on household computer purchases. When kids start clamoring for a Mac in the house the way they clamor for an iPod, Apple will start making real marketshare gains.
Companies like Toyota start entirely new brands (Scion) to appeal to the coveted youth market, because they know that when you get a buyer young you're likely to build lifetime brand loyalty. Apple's just playing Scion to the PC's General Motors, is all.
As far as people wondering about how these ads play to business buyers, or Linux users-- not the market they're targeting.
[..]
And yeah, I think these ads would have the most appeal for teens and young adults. Guess what? Teens have enormous influence on household computer purchases. When kids start clamoring for a Mac in the house the way they clamor for an iPod, Apple will start making real marketshare gains.
Companies like Toyota start entirely new brands (Scion) to appeal to the coveted youth market, because they know that when you get a buyer young you're likely to build lifetime brand loyalty. Apple's just playing Scion to the PC's General Motors, is all.
As far as people wondering about how these ads play to business buyers, or Linux users-- not the market they're targeting.
Seems pretty clear to me that these ads are all about lifestyle branding. The visual is overtly intended to send the message "The PC is your parent's computer".
Doesn't matter if that message is "insulting" or "arrogant", it's advertising. If Chevy attempts to imply that their trucks are more rugged and macho than Fords nobody gets their back up. It's advertising. That's what advertising does: links your product in the viewers mind with certain desirable attributes. In this case, "cool" and "youthful" (as opposed to "stodgy" and "middle aged").
The day advertising forswears "cooler than thou" and "younger than thou" as a strategy the earth will fall into the sun.
And yeah, I think these ads would have the most appeal for teens and young adults. Guess what? Teens have enormous influence on household computer purchases. When kids start clamoring for a Mac in the house the way they clamor for an iPod, Apple will start making real marketshare gains.
Companies like Toyota start entirely new brands (Scion) to appeal to the coveted youth market, because they know that when you get a buyer young you're likely to build lifetime brand loyalty. Apple's just playing Scion to the PC's General Motors, is all.
i'd agree with everything here besides the reference to scion.
no one becomes a "toyota" faithful after their teens if they can afford a BMW or any other more expensive vehicle.
i'd agree with everything here besides the reference to scion.
no one becomes a "toyota" faithful after their teens if they can afford a BMW or any other more expensive vehicle.
who you foolin?
Which is why Toyota is one of the most successful brands in North America?
And continuity of brand loyalty across demographics is why Toyota also offers an "aspirational" badge in the form of Lexus.
Buy a Scion (or now, I suppose, a "Yaris") for basic transport when you're in college, move on to a Corolla or Matrix, maybe a hybrid, when you need something less of a "kid" car for a job, get an SUV or Camry when you have kids, and go for the Lexus when they're out of the house.
Obviously, not a scenario to everyone's tastes (nothing for the young, single and affluent driving enthusiast in there), but you get the general idea.
The Camry is one of the most popular vehicles in the North American market, and I'll wager not many of them are owned by teens, so Toyota must be engendering some kind of loyalty, Or maybe everybody can't afford or doesn't desire a BMW?
The day advertising forswears "cooler than thou" and "younger than thou" as a strategy the earth will fall into the sun.
I see plenty of ads that don't use this strategy, and they are always superior to those that do. This strategy is arrogant and an insult to the intelligence, but perhaps the American market has got used to this type of advertising. It seems that the people who dislike these ads the most are not from America, so I guess it's O.K. because Apple will probably only show them in America.
I see plenty of ads that don't use this strategy, and they are always superior to those that do. This strategy is arrogant and an insult to the intelligence, but perhaps the American market has got used to this type of advertising. It seems that the people who dislike these ads the most are not from America, so I guess it's O.K. because Apple will probably only show them in America.
I more or less agree with you, I'm just not surprised that Apple might use the technique, as it is apparently effective.
The ads are at least low key and affable, and I think less insulting to the intelligence than the MS spots that imply the use of their software leads to a life fully lived, or the Citibank ads that suggest they are your partner in soulfulness, or the myriad car ads that insinuate that a certain model makes your dick bigger and gets you laid, or any of hundreds if not thousands of far more egregious examples I or most anyone could cite.
I mean, maybe in Europe ads are confined to dry recitations of the product's demonstrable advantages, but as far as I know advertising tends to be kind of stupid, that way. On account of it's trying to sell you something.
During the 10 minutes I've spent fighting with AI trying to reply to this (forgot my password to my account... and then to my junk Gmail account,) both the iLife ad and as I type this now the virus ad is running and I want to put my head through my monitor. They're an embaressment! There is no other way to describe these ads. I guess we might know when the next financial statements come out whether the ads worked or not, but I'm pretty sure they won't. They belittle the PC. Not winning any points there.
I think these ads look cheap and tacky. They're trying to be funny, but not succeeding. Again, Apple is insulting PC's and their users; this time by insinuating that they're dull, uncool, and stupid. Windows isn't my OS of choice, but it is 90+% of the world and they can't all be those 3 negative adjectives.
What a waste of time and money. What is it with Apple and these poor comparison ads? Make the Mac appealing in it's own right. Don't even mention PC's. Advertise the f*cking OS! Geez.
It's a beautiful, amazing, mindblowing piece of code. So blow people away with it. They don't even know what they're missing.
Jobs: Pay me a fraction of what you're paying your marketing department and I'll do a better job. Hell pay my gran and she'll do a better job - and she's been dead 20 years!
Not impressed. I can't believe so many people on here think this is even halfway decent.
Hey Mobius thank you, i didn't dare to post it like you did, because
i thought i was missing something very important. But i watched
them over and over ... conclusion: same as you.
It gets even worse if you try to imagine how the ads work out
dubbed into a different language, say french or german. It simply
doesn't work. No dice.
Bottom line:
The ads remain a national (USA) curiosity.
The ads just fullfill an already existing cult about the Mac. And they
don't have the power to convince anybody else but Mac users. IMHO.
Rubbish: arrogant, uninformative, inward-looking, reinforces stereotypes, caters mostly to the Mac-loving crowd itself, and does nothing to educate WHAT THE MAC ACTUALLY LOOKS LIKE AND DOES AND WHAT THE APPS AND THE OS LOOK LIKE AND DOES..!!!!!
And saying the PC just has Clock and Calculator is like comparing two cars and saying the competitor's car only has 3 wheels when it clearly is a functioning car with 4 wheels.
Apple is just sometimes way too far up it's own ass to make any decent Mac ads. iPod ads, great, resonates with the people and they're fantastic, but the real gems of Apple Inc. are the Macs. Apple just can't bloody advertise them properly even if they had the best ad minds on the planet and a bloody unlimited budget.
The Mac user wearing a hooded sweatshirt and jeans and sneakers... THAT'S YOUR EXISTING CUSTOMER BASE..!! If you want to GROW the customer base you target the NEW CUSTOMER BASE, not depict the people that already buy Macs...WTF.
And yeah, all PC users are boring losers that work in dead end jobs (that is, the real world of IT) and listen to "slow jams" on their iPods. Ironically, these boring loser PC users are the ones more likely to be reading the Wall Street Journal and actually *give a rat's ass* about Walt Mossberg. Yet these are the people Apple is clearly going out of it's way to alienate them.
Six 30-second commercials, lots of air-time, a huge chunk of marketing budget, and all targeting a tiny market segment. Value-for-marketing-dollar: immensely little.
The only ad I didn't particularly like is the better one and only because it implies Windows is better for spreadsheet oriented and work related functions and Macs are better for life things. I guess they are aiming to switch people at home but I just thought conceding a market was a poor choice.
What in the world comes with Windows other than Calculator, or WordPad, or even 'amazing' Address Book??? Sure, different manufactorers will place other programs ontop of their windows installment, such as image editors; even those you find yourself bogged down with ads or they are just plain trash apps. If you want all the things that iLife has to offer right out of the box, the macs are the way to go. Without 3rd party software vendors, a Windows PC is just a glorified Calculator and Address Book...oh, and a simple wordpad. Big yip.
Quote:
Originally posted by drakethegreat
Obviously they are biased because Apple produced them... People seem to be getting angry over certain comments but hell its not as if they are that skewed or void of fact. The iLife one is the only one I would say is slightly skewed. Windows does have more then a Calculator and a Clock but still nothing quite as nice as iLife.
I just hope my friend watches these. I've been unable to convince to consider macs because he thinks that if 90% of the sheep out there are using Windows it must be better...
Of course using that same logic thats like saying Hitler must of been right because 90% of the German population stood behind him when he slaughtered millions or maybe it had something to do with ignorance and the 90% didn't know about it and didn't know any better then to stop his control.
What I'd like to know is what percentage of the people (in this thread) who think these ads are "crap, insulting, moronic" are from the same camp of people who thought that the iPod was overpriced, missing features and doomed to failure. I usually see these great gnashing-of-hands & wringing-of-teeth moments on the boards as good news for the product (or ad) itself. Not that I'm a total apologist, but answer this? How is Apple supposed to show that their prodcts are superior without coming off as "seeming superior?" Y'all have painted yourselves into a corner, there.
There's a few basic ways to sell products:
1. Sex. (Drink Bud-- each six-pack comes with a fawning cheerleader)
2. General ego stroke. Total strangers will be in awe of me in my new Super Turbo XPS whatever.
5. keeping up. EVERYONE cool has a RAZR-- get with it!
6. Price. Cheap is the new Good!
5. Comparison. Crelm toothpaste works better than product X.
If apple can't use comparison for fear of sounding "all superior," than which other of the above would work? Price is out. Jingoism is out-- AMERICA loves Apple computers? I don't think so. Sex? Yeah -- geeks like sex. Wait...
Comments
I think a lot of people on this board forget that we are here because we are interested in Macs, and almost certainly, technology in general. But the vast majority of people just aren't interested (and even some who are interested are unbelievably clueless*) they just use technology because they have to.
Most people couldn't tell you the difference between an application and an operating system. Most people couldn't tell you that Macs run OS X. I imagine that most people's reaction to seeing a Mac would be "Hey! That's not Windows!". You have to show people OS X so that they'll be intrigued enough to even visit an Apple store in the first place. Apple need to take advantage of Vista's lateness and get OS X in everyone's face as much as possible, so when people see Vista, they'll think "hmmm, that's a bit like OS X, but not as nice".
* The BBC have a weekly radio show/podcast called "digital planet". About three weeks ago, it had a short segment about operating systems, and they had some pundit in to name her 3 favourite OSes (Symbian, Windows Mobile and Linux, in case you were wondering), and when the presenter introduced the segment he said, and I kid you not: "I wasn't even aware there was more than one OS".
Everyone who thinks there oughta be a "process type" commercial is way off. The average Joe doesn't care and wouldn't even know what they were looking at if you tried to sell iLife apps in a 30 second spot. Apple is selling a lifestyle, they are showing how "human" the Mac experience is.
This campaign will be successful.
As far as people wondering about how these ads play to business buyers, or Linux users-- not the market they're targeting.
Seems pretty clear to me that these ads are all about lifestyle branding. The visual is overtly intended to send the message "The PC is your parent's computer".
Doesn't matter if that message is "insulting" or "arrogant", it's advertising. If Chevy attempts to imply that their trucks are more rugged and macho than Fords nobody gets their back up. It's advertising. That's what advertising does: links your product in the viewers mind with certain desirable attributes. In this case, "cool" and "youthful" (as opposed to "stodgy" and "middle aged").
The day advertising forswears "cooler than thou" and "younger than thou" as a strategy the earth will fall into the sun.
And yeah, I think these ads would have the most appeal for teens and young adults. Guess what? Teens have enormous influence on household computer purchases. When kids start clamoring for a Mac in the house the way they clamor for an iPod, Apple will start making real marketshare gains.
Companies like Toyota start entirely new brands (Scion) to appeal to the coveted youth market, because they know that when you get a buyer young you're likely to build lifetime brand loyalty. Apple's just playing Scion to the PC's General Motors, is all.
Originally posted by addabox
As far as people wondering about how these ads play to business buyers, or Linux users-- not the market they're targeting.
[..]
And yeah, I think these ads would have the most appeal for teens and young adults. Guess what? Teens have enormous influence on household computer purchases. When kids start clamoring for a Mac in the house the way they clamor for an iPod, Apple will start making real marketshare gains.
Companies like Toyota start entirely new brands (Scion) to appeal to the coveted youth market, because they know that when you get a buyer young you're likely to build lifetime brand loyalty. Apple's just playing Scion to the PC's General Motors, is all.
Bingo.
Originally posted by Aquatic
They should have one that mentions that Macs run Windows faster.
Are there any facts to back this up? I'd be interested in the benchmarks...
Originally posted by addabox
Still on the front page of Apple US, however.
As far as people wondering about how these ads play to business buyers, or Linux users-- not the market they're targeting.
Seems pretty clear to me that these ads are all about lifestyle branding. The visual is overtly intended to send the message "The PC is your parent's computer".
Doesn't matter if that message is "insulting" or "arrogant", it's advertising. If Chevy attempts to imply that their trucks are more rugged and macho than Fords nobody gets their back up. It's advertising. That's what advertising does: links your product in the viewers mind with certain desirable attributes. In this case, "cool" and "youthful" (as opposed to "stodgy" and "middle aged").
The day advertising forswears "cooler than thou" and "younger than thou" as a strategy the earth will fall into the sun.
And yeah, I think these ads would have the most appeal for teens and young adults. Guess what? Teens have enormous influence on household computer purchases. When kids start clamoring for a Mac in the house the way they clamor for an iPod, Apple will start making real marketshare gains.
Companies like Toyota start entirely new brands (Scion) to appeal to the coveted youth market, because they know that when you get a buyer young you're likely to build lifetime brand loyalty. Apple's just playing Scion to the PC's General Motors, is all.
i'd agree with everything here besides the reference to scion.
no one becomes a "toyota" faithful after their teens if they can afford a BMW or any other more expensive vehicle.
who you foolin?
Originally posted by Elixir
i'd agree with everything here besides the reference to scion.
no one becomes a "toyota" faithful after their teens if they can afford a BMW or any other more expensive vehicle.
who you foolin?
Which is why Toyota is one of the most successful brands in North America?
And continuity of brand loyalty across demographics is why Toyota also offers an "aspirational" badge in the form of Lexus.
Buy a Scion (or now, I suppose, a "Yaris") for basic transport when you're in college, move on to a Corolla or Matrix, maybe a hybrid, when you need something less of a "kid" car for a job, get an SUV or Camry when you have kids, and go for the Lexus when they're out of the house.
Obviously, not a scenario to everyone's tastes (nothing for the young, single and affluent driving enthusiast in there), but you get the general idea.
The Camry is one of the most popular vehicles in the North American market, and I'll wager not many of them are owned by teens, so Toyota must be engendering some kind of loyalty, Or maybe everybody can't afford or doesn't desire a BMW?
Originally posted by addabox
The day advertising forswears "cooler than thou" and "younger than thou" as a strategy the earth will fall into the sun.
I see plenty of ads that don't use this strategy, and they are always superior to those that do. This strategy is arrogant and an insult to the intelligence, but perhaps the American market has got used to this type of advertising. It seems that the people who dislike these ads the most are not from America, so I guess it's O.K. because Apple will probably only show them in America.
Originally posted by Mr. H
I see plenty of ads that don't use this strategy, and they are always superior to those that do. This strategy is arrogant and an insult to the intelligence, but perhaps the American market has got used to this type of advertising. It seems that the people who dislike these ads the most are not from America, so I guess it's O.K. because Apple will probably only show them in America.
I more or less agree with you, I'm just not surprised that Apple might use the technique, as it is apparently effective.
The ads are at least low key and affable, and I think less insulting to the intelligence than the MS spots that imply the use of their software leads to a life fully lived, or the Citibank ads that suggest they are your partner in soulfulness, or the myriad car ads that insinuate that a certain model makes your dick bigger and gets you laid, or any of hundreds if not thousands of far more egregious examples I or most anyone could cite.
I mean, maybe in Europe ads are confined to dry recitations of the product's demonstrable advantages, but as far as I know advertising tends to be kind of stupid, that way. On account of it's trying to sell you something.
Originally posted by Fran441
...I'm embarassed to see them on TV.
During the 10 minutes I've spent fighting with AI trying to reply to this (forgot my password to my account... and then to my junk Gmail account,) both the iLife ad and as I type this now the virus ad is running and I want to put my head through my monitor. They're an embaressment! There is no other way to describe these ads. I guess we might know when the next financial statements come out whether the ads worked or not, but I'm pretty sure they won't. They belittle the PC. Not winning any points there.
Originally posted by Mobius
I think these ads look cheap and tacky. They're trying to be funny, but not succeeding. Again, Apple is insulting PC's and their users; this time by insinuating that they're dull, uncool, and stupid. Windows isn't my OS of choice, but it is 90+% of the world and they can't all be those 3 negative adjectives.
What a waste of time and money. What is it with Apple and these poor comparison ads? Make the Mac appealing in it's own right. Don't even mention PC's. Advertise the f*cking OS! Geez.
It's a beautiful, amazing, mindblowing piece of code. So blow people away with it. They don't even know what they're missing.
Jobs: Pay me a fraction of what you're paying your marketing department and I'll do a better job. Hell pay my gran and she'll do a better job - and she's been dead 20 years!
Not impressed. I can't believe so many people on here think this is even halfway decent.
Hey Mobius thank you, i didn't dare to post it like you did, because
i thought i was missing something very important.
them over and over ... conclusion: same as you.
It gets even worse if you try to imagine how the ads work out
dubbed into a different language, say french or german. It simply
doesn't work. No dice.
Bottom line:
The ads remain a national (USA) curiosity.
The ads just fullfill an already existing cult about the Mac. And they
don't have the power to convince anybody else but Mac users. IMHO.
I thought the ads were cheeky, not 'belittling'.
Not that many people are that attatched to their machines as to get antsy about it anyway.
Rubbish: arrogant, uninformative, inward-looking, reinforces stereotypes, caters mostly to the Mac-loving crowd itself, and does nothing to educate WHAT THE MAC ACTUALLY LOOKS LIKE AND DOES AND WHAT THE APPS AND THE OS LOOK LIKE AND DOES..!!!!!
And saying the PC just has Clock and Calculator is like comparing two cars and saying the competitor's car only has 3 wheels when it clearly is a functioning car with 4 wheels.
Apple is just sometimes way too far up it's own ass to make any decent Mac ads. iPod ads, great, resonates with the people and they're fantastic, but the real gems of Apple Inc. are the Macs. Apple just can't bloody advertise them properly even if they had the best ad minds on the planet and a bloody unlimited budget.
The Mac user wearing a hooded sweatshirt and jeans and sneakers... THAT'S YOUR EXISTING CUSTOMER BASE..!! If you want to GROW the customer base you target the NEW CUSTOMER BASE, not depict the people that already buy Macs...WTF.
And yeah, all PC users are boring losers that work in dead end jobs (that is, the real world of IT) and listen to "slow jams" on their iPods. Ironically, these boring loser PC users are the ones more likely to be reading the Wall Street Journal and actually *give a rat's ass* about Walt Mossberg. Yet these are the people Apple is clearly going out of it's way to alienate them.
Six 30-second commercials, lots of air-time, a huge chunk of marketing budget, and all targeting a tiny market segment. Value-for-marketing-dollar: immensely little.
Originally posted by drakethegreat
Obviously they are biased because Apple produced them... People seem to be getting angry over certain comments but hell its not as if they are that skewed or void of fact. The iLife one is the only one I would say is slightly skewed. Windows does have more then a Calculator and a Clock but still nothing quite as nice as iLife.
I just hope my friend watches these. I've been unable to convince to consider macs because he thinks that if 90% of the sheep out there are using Windows it must be better...
Of course using that same logic thats like saying Hitler must of been right because 90% of the German population stood behind him when he slaughtered millions or maybe it had something to do with ignorance and the 90% didn't know about it and didn't know any better then to stop his control.
There's a few basic ways to sell products:
1. Sex. (Drink Bud-- each six-pack comes with a fawning cheerleader)
2. General ego stroke. Total strangers will be in awe of me in my new Super Turbo XPS whatever.
3. Jingoism. Ford Trucks are TEXAS tough!
4. bland repetition. Call now! 555-5555. That's right, 555-5555! Remember-- 555-5555!!!
5. keeping up. EVERYONE cool has a RAZR-- get with it!
6. Price. Cheap is the new Good!
5. Comparison. Crelm toothpaste works better than product X.
If apple can't use comparison for fear of sounding "all superior," than which other of the above would work? Price is out. Jingoism is out-- AMERICA loves Apple computers? I don't think so. Sex? Yeah -- geeks like sex. Wait...
....No dice.
Bottom line:
The ads remain a national (USA) curiosity.
The ads just fullfill an already existing cult about the Mac. And they don't have the power to convince anybody else but Mac users. IMHO.
I totally agree with you Voxy.